Fallen Angel
by MakiZanaX13
Summary: Rachel Wayne, daughter of Bruce Wayne and Mary Grayson, has been missing for six years since the night of her mother and uncle's deaths. Now it's the year 2010 and Batman has finally found a lead. His only problem? The Team are caught in the middle again. Reverse!Batfamily. Red Arrow/Fem!Robin, Spitfire and SuperMartian.


**Maki:** Wow, it's been a long time since I last mentioned about doing a revision of Fallen Angel and now after a long struggle the first chapter is finally done! But for some reason I've decided to make it a rewrite at the last minute, mainly because the original idea (not the Apprentice idea if that's what you're thinking about, I'm still keeping that) didn't turned out the way I wanted it to be. One of the changes I will be making is that Rachel is Bruce's biological child and Damian's younger sister because I think it's a pretty sweet idea since there are not that many fics like this hanging around. Also mind you that Talia, who is originally Damian's mother, is not making an appearance whatsoever in the fanfic seeing how she never appeared once in the show. Thus I decided to make Mary Damian's biological mother instead, which makes more sense.

In addition, I was able to find myself a beta-reader who goes by the name of RiverFawn and she was able to beta-read the entire chapter at separate times since I sent it to her in two different parts. But it was short-lived because when she emailed me back the edited document for the rest of the chapter, she will no longer be beta-reading anyone's fanfics anymore due to real life circumstances that are unavoidable. So I thank her for giving her time to beta-read this chapter and that she will be able solve the problems she is currently having. As a thank you gift I will be dedicating this chapter to her.

Anyways please enjoy! And remember feedback is welcomed but flames aren't. They're bad for your health.

**WARNINGS: **Alternate Universe, Non-Canon, Gender-bending, Reverse!Batfamily, Age Alteration, OOC, OC, Mild-Moderate Violence, Mild Language, Adult References and Dark Themes.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Young Justice. All rights belong to Greg Weisman, Brandon Vietti, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation. I own nothing but the plot and my OCs.

**Summary:** Rachel Wayne, daughter of Bruce Wayne and Mary Grayson, has been missing for six years since the night of her mother and uncle's deaths. Now it's the year 2010 and Batman has finally found a lead. His only problem? The Team are caught in the middle again. Reverse!Batfamily. Red Arrow/Fem!Robin, Spitfire and SuperMartian.

* * *

**Fallen Angel**

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

It was quiet, too quiet. Not that Damian minded, in fact he enjoyed the silence… to some extent. Granted that it was currently night-time in Gotham City, as it was one of the reasons for the quietness in the manor, but that wasn't his problem. The problem was his little sister, Rachel.

The child was tucked away in the bed of her room, sleeping peacefully like there was nothing wrong with the world. Damian tugged his lips into a small smile, the young heir remembered when he saw her fall asleep on the couch while watching an episode of Scooby Doo regardless of the numerous protests that she wasn't tired. She gave up in the end as her body reached its limits and eventually collapsed on the couch. Their mother came in the moment it happened and removed Rachel from the couch prior taking her to her room.

The problem was his sister's safety. Three weeks ago their father had held a function dinner at the manor, only to have it invaded by The Joker and Harley Quinn, two of Gotham City's most wanted criminals. In the midst of the chaos Damian and Rachel were separated in a horde of people attempting to escape the manor. One person accidentally pushed Rachel whilst running, since she was too small to see, making the latter fell face first on the ground. Harley noticed the dilemma and takes her hostage, threatening to injure the frightened young girl if anyone made any sudden movement.

Their mother was in hysterics and begged Harley to let her daughter go, but to no avail. Before the criminal duo were able to do anything that would cause damage, Batman intercepted them in the nick of time by breaking through one of the large stain glass windows in the ballroom. Although he was deeply worried about Rachel, Damian wondered where his father ran off to as the caped crusader managed to take out both villains and rescue his sister, who thankfully came out with no injuries whatsoever, minutes until police arrived to return them to Arkham Asylum.

Following the incident Damian had become quite protective of Rachel as she kept recalling memories of it. He couldn't blame her, it was quite traumatising especially for someone so young. He also felt suspicious of his father, angered that said man didn't show up in a time of need.

Oh boy, how wrong was he?

Over the next few days the young heir began to think that his father and Batman had a connection. Thus he searched the manor for any sorts of evidence that would determine that he was right. By the time he did, however, Damian wished he hadn't.

He found evidence alright, _massive_ evidence at that.

It was the Batcave, headquarters of Batman himself. How he'd found it he wasn't so sure, but he is going to have a word with his father as to why such a huge cave, one invested with a lot of technology to boot, was living right under the manor. He was doubly unlucky when his father caught him dead in the centre of it.

Then the man pulled his son out to give him a good scolding at how he was not permitted to be in there. It soon turned into a heart to heart, which was longer than expected. During their conversation, Damian said something that literally threw his father off.

"I don't want to be on the sidelines anymore. Father, I want to help you."

He wasn't pleased with his answer though, as he was at first rejected to be his father's partner in crime due to the fact he would be risking his life and that the older man did not want to lose anyone important to him, especially one from his own family for that matter.

But Damian wasn't ready to give up. Not now, not ever. He made multiple attempts to convince his father that he was worthy to be his partner. They all failed to reach him.

Still, there was one time when his actions did get his father's attention.

_The young heir growled in annoyance as he witnessed a building lit up in flames. He didn't care but he knew for certain that whoever owned that building was not going to be happy when he or she discovered it burning down to the ground. The cause of this incident was a fight taking place in the mid-eastern area of Gotham City between Poison Ivy and the Dark Knight himself._

_The villainess had succeeded in escaping her imprisonment in Arkham Asylum and had gone on a rampage in the city, hoping to draw Batman out of hiding and have her revenge on him. Just as she threw him into a nearby building, Damian, who was supervising their fight on the top of another one, spotted a little girl, probably no older than 5 with thick blonde hair, dark grey eyes and olive-tanned skin kneeling by a beaten down car. He'd easily tell she was afraid, much like Rachel when she was held hostage by Harley Quinn, and was desperate to be with her family._

_Wasting no time he jumped off the rooftop and ran on the staircase on the side until landing on the floor. He then ran as quickly as possible to where the girl was not long until Batman saw what he was doing._

"_Damian Thomas Wayne, get back here this instant!" the man shouted._

"_Sorry, I don't have time for that!" Damian yelled. He finally reached the girl and bent in front of her, looking over for any injuries. He sighed in relief when he found none._

"_Are you alright?" He asked._

_The girl nodded her head shakily. "Y-Yes."_

"_Don't worry. I'll take you back to your family."_

"_Y-You will?"_

"_Yeah, that's a promise."_

_The girl let her shoulders relax, slightly understanding that this boy doesn't have any intention to hurt her. She nodded once more, letting Damian lift her up into his arms. Making sure that he had a tight grip around her waist, he tried to leave the vicinity; not knowing that Poison Ivy was hot on his tail._

"_Damian!" he heard Batman call, not far behind. The latter was alerting him of the danger that was after him._

_He let go of the girl briefly to turn around and deflected the villainess's attack with a knife he pulled out from his pants pocket, which had been given to him as a present for his seventh birthday. He jumped and slashed Poison Ivy's arm with the knife and kicked her in the abdomen, sending her backwards and letting Batman take care of the rest. _

_Damian reverted to his main task at hand, picked the girl up and fled the vicinity. When they were out of range, the little girl tugged her hand on the boy's shirt. He looked up and in the distance he saw a girl that was, by the looks of it, one year younger than him with thick black hair, grey eyes and olive-tanned skin. And by the way the girls appeared he assumed that they must have been sisters._

_He dropped the younger girl for the final time, watching her run to her older sister's side. She waved goodbye before the older girl dragged her off, obviously mad by her younger sister's disappearance earlier._

_When they vanished, Damian quickly spun around the second a shadow covered him to confront an obviously unhappy Batman._

"_We need to talk." He growled._

To say that Batman was disappointed at his son for not following his orders was an understatement. Nonetheless, he commended Damian's bravery while he protected the girl from Poison Ivy and offered his son to be his partner in crime, which Damian gratefully accepted.

Unfortunately this was found out by their mother, who by chance eavesdropped on the two males as they conversed with each other.

And this was where his was, walking through a hallway in the manor to his father's office where he was having a discussion with his wife. Of course he didn't go too far, as he didn't want to get caught, so he hid in one room a few spaces away to hear what his parents were saying by stealthily leaning against the nearest wall.

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Bruce didn't want to deal with that at the moment. To be sitting at his desk with his wife standing before him, arms crossed over her chest in an unpleasant manner was certainly not where he wanted to be right now. "Listen Mary, it's not what you think. It wasn't my decision. Damian made this decision himself."

She shook her head vigorously, still not convinced. "And risk the safety of our family! Bruce you know what will happen if he-"

"I do. I'm going to take full responsibility of him and his actions."

"What about Rachel?"

He paused as he hasn't thought of it yet. True, if Damian did turn out to be his partner, Rachel would most likely be a target similar to what happened three weeks ago. She could be in more danger than she used to be. But it wasn't just her, Mary was also another possibility. If that were to happen, both of them would be in danger and would be his fault for not protecting them like he should have been.

If he wanted to keep them safe from the potential harm, then he had no choice. He had to do it.

"Mary, there's something I want to say to you." Bruce said.

"Don't tell me you made up your mind already?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well there's that but…" he took a deep breath then continued. "Mary, I love you and Rachel. However I have decided to make Damian my partner and that can put the both of you in great danger. I'm sorry to say this but I can't let you two live with us any longer."

"Bruce, I…" Mary frowned, feeling fresh tears form in her eyes. She was confused and angered at the same time. One was that Bruce had accepted Damian as his future partner in crime and the other is why he wanted her and their daughter to leave their family.

He sighed and rose up, walking to the distraught woman and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I don't want to lose anyone precious to me ever again. Either it'd be you, Rachel or Damian. If anything happened to one of you, I'd hunt high and low to bring justice to whoever caused the damage. I promise to protect all of you until the day I can fight no more. That's my promise to you as your husband and as a father."

"I… I understand." She whispered as she trembled slightly.

Bruce then pulled her into a warm embrace, allowing her to rest her head on his chest as he rested his head on her own. "When should we tell Rachel?"

"Tomorrow." He answered.

"She's not going to take it too well…"

"I know Mary, I know."

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When the conversation ended Damian slumped to the ground, not believing what he just heard.

"Unbelievable." He muttered.

Everything always comes at a price, especially when it comes to becoming the partner of one of the greatest heroes in mankind.

* * *

**4 years later**

**Gotham City**

**Mid-June, Year 2004**

The now 14-year-old Damian Wayne pulled the collar of his black cape as the midsummer wind flew past him that night. How Batman ordered him to go out on patrol in 86 degrees Fahrenheit in these types of clothes was beyond him but he couldn't complain. He had an hour left of patrol and by then he would be allowed to dress in cooler clothing for the rest of the night.

His blue eyes narrowed behind the domino mask, in search for signs of threat that could harm civilians. He had been doing this for a while and all he got so far was a small gang of drug dealers that he had knocked out easily. Damian had thought that by being the Dark Knight's partner he would've been able to bigger things. Then again this was definitely not what he'd had in mind.

Oh well, everyone has to start somewhere.

The young heir leaned on the wall when a flyer smacked his face. He removed the flyer and glanced at the words written on it. His eyes widened in surprise as he read it.

**Haly's International Traveling Circus**

**Come and see one of the best circus' in the world**

**Featuring the main act: The Flying Graysons!**

**Tickets on sale for a limited time only**

Damian scrolled down a bit further and noticed that the tickets go on sale tomorrow. He recalled that when his father and mother broke the news to Rachel about the family separating. She did not take it too well and reacted by crying and screaming, forcing Damian to hold her; soothing words in her ear in order to calm her down although he never liked it.

It was almost an hour when she finally relaxed, her sobbing now reduced to whimpers as her older brother kept holding onto her. Thankfully she complied with her parents' wishes and left with her mother, hugging her father and brother for the final time. Then they left… yet it wouldn't be forever as Damian knew that his mother's maiden name was Grayson not to mention that she had been a member of the Flying Graysons prior to meeting his father, so they probably went to Haly's Circus after the separation.

If his hunch was right then they may reunite with them if they ever decided to go. His hand gripped the flyer and nodded, remembering to ask his father later.

* * *

Time flew by and it was already four years since Mary and her daughter, Rachel, separated from their family; Bruce and Damian. They had first arrived at Haly's Circus three years ago, which happened to be her home, much to Rachel's surprise as she never knew her mother was a circus performer. Mary was utterly shocked that everyone, including her brother, John, welcomed her with open arms even though she had been gone for so long. She broke down crying, finally realising how much of a burden the separation was.

Mary then introduced Rachel to the troupe, the latter was very skittish when her mother ushered her forward. John was surprised at his niece's appearance, from what his sister told him he primarily thought Rachel would look like a spitting image of her mother. Instead she wasn't. She took more after her father with the black hair and blue eyes. It was ironic as he had similar features.

On the bright side she did have some of Mary's personality – she was upbeat, energetic, innocent and beautiful. Then came her father's personality – she was smart, a quick learner, perceptive and strong-minded which is something you don't normally see in an average child her age. Combine those together and you gained yourself a force to be reckoned with.

Truth be told John really never liked the idea of his sister marrying the wealthiest man in Gotham City. If there was a world where they weren't siblings at all he would gladly take the opportunity to marry her as he would've developed a crush on Mary during their time spent together as circus performers. When he heard she was returning to the circus because of her family's separation, John thanked his lucky stars that he was going to see her again after all these years and that everything was going to turn to normal.

Anyways back to topic, Rachel calmed down once Jack Haly or Mr. Haly, as she had addressed him, had told her that they had no intentions of harming her considering that she is the daughter of one of their beloved members. Unfortunately now that Mary requested her to join the troupe as a trapeze performer, Rachel had to change her surname to Grayson as Mary and John's younger sister through the duration of her stay as the media was aware of her being the biological daughter of Bruce Wayne.

Everyone in the troupe understood that Mr. Haly hated reporters with a passion meaning if Rachel were to expose her real surname in public, then it would mean trouble for the whole troupe, especially for Mr. Haly. Even though she had just joined and that she was the youngest out of all of them, she had had to work just as hard as the rest of them to please the audience and Mr. Haly.

Rachel didn't begin training until she was 5-years-old but the first day of training was unbelievably difficult for her. Mr. Haly tested her flexibility and endurance by having her to do a round of basic gymnastic exercises with the additional assistance from Mary and John. It was an hour before he was satisfied with the results and permitted her to have a fifteen minute break up to the next round where he ordered a set of equipment to be brought into the big top that acted as the training room. However this time Rachel had struggled a lot with the equipment, much to Mr. Haly's displeasure, and sustained more injuries than she did in the last round.

After calling it for a day Mr. Haly pulled Mary and John over for a conversation regarding Rachel's future position in the troupe while said girl, who was exhausted from the training, was put to bed in her family's caravan. The siblings pleaded for Mr. Haly to let Rachel live with them, otherwise she would have been left on the streets or in an orphanage as her father wouldn't take her yet due to certain issues. He thought over it and agreed however she had to succeed one move to make him satisfied.

And it was the exact same move that made the Flying Graysons so famous!

The quadruple flip.

They were reluctant at first since the move was way too dangerous for Rachel to learn. Mr. Haly chuckled, reassuring that she wouldn't be doing it without a net so there wouldn't be any major casualties if a mistake were to occur.

Throughout the month Mary would sometimes sit with Rachel in their caravan, showing her recordings of their previous performances so that she could memorize the quadruple flip before she had to perform in front of Mr. Haly. It was frightening at the start as it was really high up with no net as well. She was relieved when Mary reminded her that she would be using a net compared to her and John.

After many hours of watching and practicing, it was time. Everyone from the troupe, with the addition of Mr. Haly himself, was gathered in the big top, ready to watch the performance. A net was placed high above them, with ropes tightly secured around the beams to certify that they wouldn't snap in the middle of the performance. Mary dressed Rachel in a red leotard adorned with yellow patterns, black tights and black ballet flats. The older of the two wore the same thing that her daughter wore, whereas John wore something slightly different – along with his sleeveless red shirt that had the same yellow patterns, he had a pair of red wrist bands, black pants and black shoes.

Rachel shook in fear as Mary and John led her to the platform via a long ladder. As she made her way up the ladder, she could hear her mother's words of encouragement below her, making her to move a little faster. Once on the platform, Rachel peeked over her shoulder to glance at the bottom. However, the height of the platform caused her to feel dizzy and stumble a bit. Mary noticed and a comforting smile appeared on her kindly features, telling her daughter that she would be alright. Thankfully, it settled Rachel's nerves a fair bit.

The young girl watched carefully as John grabbed the trapeze bar and swung forward, swallowing nervously at the sight of his feet lifting off the platform. Her uncle then jumped off and flipped in the air not long after the next trapeze bar. He climbed up and sat on the bar, then bent his legs and stared directly at Mary and Rachel. The older female took hold of the first bar in time with John swinging to them. Soon Mary let go of the bar and once she was in the air, she flipped and clasped both hands onto John's wrists. They swayed to and fro for a few seconds before Mary gracefully landed on the opposite platform.

Rachel eventually realised that it was her turn. She shakily walked up to the bar and grasped it, looking at John who swung to her. Surprisingly an image of her father flashed in her mind that overlapped with John. This stopped the shaking as she jumped off the platform while onto the bar in the process. The image was then replaced with one of the recordings she had previously viewed with her mother; showing the moves said woman was performing. The same ones Rachel was meant to be doing right now.

She felt her fingers slip from the bar as her body curled into a position that made her flip not once, not twice but four times! This shocked the audience including Mr. Haly as they saw what she was doing: the quadruple flip!

Rachel opened her eyes to face John's own ones and reached out her hands towards him. He swung further, allowing her to grab his wrists. Mary sighed in relief as her daughter landed on the platform beside her when she was flung to her by John and enveloped Rachel into a hug the moment John joined them. They suddenly broke apart, the sound of clapping reaching their ears and turned around to find the troupe congratulating her. Even Mr. Haly was pleased with her performance, allowing her to stay with the troupe in the end.

Presently, Mary was searching the circus grounds for Rachel who somehow went missing that day when Mr. Haly established a meeting about their next act, which so happened to be in Gotham City, much to Mary's shock as she did not plan on returning there for a while. Mr. Haly understood the situation and reminded her that they would be there for just two days and leave straight afterwards for Brazil, as Gotham City was their last stop in North America.

She continued to wander around when she ran in to John, who was attending to the animals with two other members of the troupe.

"John! Have you seen Rachel?" Mary asked, walking to the trio.

John, who was carrying a bucket full of vegetables, shook his head. "I haven't. Last time I saw her she was training." He looked at the other two men, both of them shaking their heads.

She frowned. "I see. Anyways, please let me know if you find her."

"Will do." John said.

Mary resumed her search that lasted no more than a minute as she passed their caravan. She stopped and looked at it, realizing that she hadn't search there. Walking up the steps, she entered the caravan and froze – there on the couch was a now 8-year-old Rachel who was sleeping peacefully, most likely exhausted because of training. She didn't bother changing out of her training clothes, still in her light blue leotard and white tights. What caught Mary's eye, though, was that Rachel was holding tightly on a Batman plush doll and it was a fairly old one to boot. It had been a gift from her beloved older brother, Damian.

The woman smiled softly, locking the door behind her and ever so quietly walked towards Rachel. She dropped to her knees and lightly shook the younger girl's shoulder.

"Rachel, timp să te trezești." (Rachel, it's time to wake up.)

Rachel stirred and opened her eyes to reveal a pair of blue eyes. "Mamă." (Mom.)

"Ai dormit bine?" (Did you sleep well?)

She nodded. "Da." (Yes.)

Mary ruffled her hair gently, which had grown longer over the years and now barely just passed her shoulders. "Asta e bine." (That's good.) She turned her attention to the Batman doll. "Încă mai dormi cu asta?" (Do you still sleep with that?)

Rachel blushed sheepishly and held the doll closer. Mary giggled. "It's alright, I won't tell anyone. That reminds me, I got some good news."

"What news?" Rachel asked, blinking curiously.

"Our next performance is in Gotham City, three days from now." She answered.

"Then that means we get to see Dad and Damian!" Rachel exclaimed excitedly as she jumped from the couch.

"Whoa, easy there. Its three days away remember? As for that I'm not sure, besides I'm not ready to face Bruce yet…" Mary muttered the last few words.

Rachel slumped down on the couch. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mom, it's just… it's been so long since we last saw them and-"

"I know sweetie but who knows, they may or may not come. We'll just wait and see, okay?"

"Okay." She answered.

Then an idea triggered in Mary's head. "While I'm at it, I might as well give you something I bought in the city."

"Really?!"

"Da, acum închide ochii." (Yes, now close your eyes.)

Rachel complied and shut her eyes in an instant. Mary left her there for a short while and returned with a pink rectangular box in hand. She lifted the lid and inside the box was a beautiful necklace that comprised of silver angel wings surrounding a sapphire heart-shaped pendant. She took it out and placed it around Rachel's neck, letting it dangle on her chest.

"Le puteți deschide acum." (You can open them now.)

She gasped as she did so. "Mom, this is-"

"It's yours to keep." Mary said with a soft smile.

"Mamă..." (Mom...)

Her mother noticed the tears glistening in her eyes and pulled her into a comforting hug, humming a lullaby which she used to sing to Rachel a lot when she was younger.

However what they didn't realise was that this would be their final time they spent together as mother and daughter.

* * *

Nine year old Timothy Jackson Drake, simply referred to as Tim or Timmy, was bouncing on his heels alongside them as they were in the shopping district of Gotham City. Janet smiled, glad that her son was enjoying his time with them despite their very busy day.

While his parents continued with their adult conversation, Tim went on ahead to look at a store that caught his eye not long ago. However, on the way, he accidently bumped into a tall, slender man in his early forties with white hair, wearing a black suit. His right eye was missing and was replaced by an eyepatch whereas his left eye was blue.

Tim groaned, rubbing his sore nose as he pulled back. "Ow, I'm sorry mister."

The man snorted. "Be careful where you go next time, kid."

"Y-yes sir." He stuttered.

The man shook his head and walked past Tim, who tilted his head curiously after the man left. He didn't do anything wrong, so why did that man sound disappointed?

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Slade Wilson was no happy camper, during his time on Earth, he never was. He first started his work as an assassin after an incident that involved his youngest son, Joseph – it was an attempted kidnapping that ended with Joseph's vocal cords being severely damaged, thus rendering him mute. His wife was enraged when she found out about her son's condition and tried to kill Slade by shooting him, only to make him lose his right eye. Because of this she was convicted for a good number of years.

Sadly Slade pushed Joseph and Grant, his other son, away not wanting to risk their safety if they were to live with him, forcing both brothers to move to a foster home where he would never see them again.

He then remembered the boy he'd ran into a while ago and how he reminded him of Joseph before the accident – energetic and so full of life. But that was all gone now, all due to the biggest mistake he had made in his life.

As he silently walked down the streets, ignoring the little ankle-biters that constantly ran around him, Slade saw something that got his interest; a newspaper stand that was selling flyers regarding some famous circus that was coming to Gotham City in two days' time. It was along the lines of Haly's International something… To be honest, he couldn't remember the name properly, as he was rarely into these things.

This time, it was different.

"You should come to the circus this year! Apparently there's a new addition to the Flying Graysons and there are a lot of positive reviews about her too. They say she's really amazing and can master the quadruple flip like John and Mary can!"

"How old is the kid?"

"From what I recalled she's 8 years old."

"No way! She must be really amazing."

"Oh you better believe it my friend."

"That's it, I'm going! I wanna see this kid in action."

"Good on ya mate. I hope you have a fun time there."

That night, Slade returned home to research the kid that everyone had been talking about. Now at his computer, he opened up several sites that focused on the circus and its acts. He clicked on one link which sent him to the chat section, giving him some information on her – as the man said she was 8 years old with black hair and blue eyes. Her name was Rachel and she was the younger sister of John and Mary.

One person commented on how much the youngest Grayson resembled Bruce Wayne's daughter. That somehow sparked a debate on whether she was related to the Graysons or Bruce Wayne. Bruce had recently divorced his wife who was surprisingly Mary Grayson herself. It was mentioned that they had two children; Damian, the oldest and heir and Rachel, the youngest and only daughter. Bruce took Damian under his wing but no one knew what happened to Rachel. Some assumed that Mary couldn't handle it as a single parent because of her emotional state and sent Rachel to an orphanage where she could be adopted by a nice family.

The following day before the event, Slade continued on with his research in order to figure out if Rachel Grayson was really Rachel Wayne in disguise, and unfortunately, he had little information to prove that his theory was correct.

Why would he be doing this? For one thing, he was looking for an apprentice, one who would follow in his footsteps. Be it of any gender he needed someone young and athletic, someone that would obey his orders without hesitation and grow into a strong individual when they were older. And this Rachel may be the one he was after. Not only that, but he would be taking away one of Bruce's beloved children away from him. Slade was going to love seeing his reaction when he finds out that his daughter is gone. This was an act of revenge for his past, when he lost everything precious to him.

Regardless of the research, he still believed that the two girls were one in the same, even though nobody would agree with him.

As a result he ceased his research and decided to attend the event a little earlier. His job was to sabotage the main act which will effectively kill John and Mary and then take Rachel when the time is right. His only regret is that he might accidentally kill Rachel in the process since the chances of it happening are highly likely. He had to find some way to prevent her from being involved in the crossfire. He just had to or his plan would go down in flames.

* * *

Fast forward and it was finally the night of the event and Gotham City was lively as ever it had been before. The circus was set up in the park and was currently being occupied by a long queue which consisted of people of all ages who wanted to see the show.

Much to Damian's surprise, Bruce accepted the offer to see the show and ordered two tickets the instant he had found out since the tickets are always sold out after they go on sale.

One of the reasons why Bruce decided to go was to see Mary again. After the separation he was constantly reminded of her on a regular basis which always seemed to interfere with his work. Bruce eventually had the chance to see her again when Damian came back on the night of patrol two nights ago with a flyer in his hand and showed it to him.

Now they were at the park and joined the cue once they were dropped off by their butler Alfred, ignoring the constant stares that were thrown at them. It was a real shock to see the one and only Bruce Wayne here at such a social event when he's usually stuck with that he didn't have enough time to attend these things.

The tension soon died down and everything went back to normal as the cue started to move again. By the time it was their turn, Damian watched as his father handed the two tickets to the clown at the entrance. He took them after got over his initial shock at coming face to face with Bruce Wayne and offered both father and son a seat in the front row since they were considered as VIPs to the people of Gotham City.

Just as they were about to enter, Damian stopped all of the sudden causing Bruce to turn his attention to him.

"Damian, what's wrong?" Bruce asked.

"Father, I apologize but I need to go to the bathroom." He answered.

Bruce frowned. "I thought I told you to go before we left."

"Sorry." Damian said then looked at the clown. "Do you happen to know where they are?"

"Of course, both male and female toilets are next to the popcorn stand." The clown answered.

"Thank you. I will buy some popcorn on the way back, if that's okay with you." The last sentence was obviously directed at Bruce.

"That's fine but don't take too long." He said.

"Thank you, father."

The clown smiled as he saw Damian leave towards the toilets, ignoring the giggles coming from some of the girls in the queue. "He's a really nice and polite person, that young man. You should be proud at raising him Mr. Wayne."

The only response he got was silence, as Bruce was thinking at how suspicious Damian's excuse was, since he actually did go to the washroom back at Wayne Manor.

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Tim was jumping for joy when his parents told him that they had decided to attend Haly's Circus that night. He was in the middle of his homework when Janet entered his room and told him what was going on. After she finished he immediately dropped everything and started to prepare for the evening.

When they arrived at the park they were surprised at how long the queue was. As Tim ran towards the queue, hoping to get a spot for him and his parents before it got even bigger he collided with someone and landed on the ground with a thud. He groaned then looked up, only to gasp at who he ran into.

Damian Wayne.

What was Damian doing here? Being the son of the famous billionaire playboy, Tim would've expected him to be attending to more important things than a mere circus.

Damian growled. "Watch where you're going, kid."

"Sorry." He muttered.

The older boy shook his head and continued on his way. Tim staggered to his feet and watched as Damian went somewhere.

"Timmy! Timmy, are you alright?"

He broke from his thoughts when Janet and his father, Jack, came running to him as they were worried after seeing him hit the ground a short while ago. However they didn't see the part where he ran into Damian.

Tim nodded sheepishly. "I'm okay mom. I just tripped on accident."

"Okay, but be careful at where you're looking next time, son." Jack said.

"Yes, dad."

"Good now let's get in line."

The moment came when it was their turn to go into the big top and as Jack handed the tickets to the clown, Tim spoke up.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

"Can't you hold it until the intermission?" Janet asked.

"No."

Jack sighed. "Go ahead."

Janet placed a hand on his shoulder. "Jack, are you sure?"

"He's a growing boy, Janet, he needs to learn how to act on his own." He answered.

"Oh, alright."

"If you're interested, the male and female toilets are both next to the popcorn stand. You can buy some on the way back if you want to." The clown said.

Tim's eyes beamed. "Can I dad, please?"

"Sure son." Jack answered and handed him some cash, which he hoped was enough to buy the popcorn.

His grin widened. "Thanks dad!"

With that he was off.

"Come to think of it, Mr. Wayne's son said the same thing not long ago." The clown mused as he remembered what happened earlier.

Janet gasped. "Mr. Wayne and his son, here?"

The clown nodded. "You bet! We even offered them the front row since they are special guests at this event. Now come inside, you don't want to keep the line waiting now do you?"

"Ah right."

He grinned. "Have a good night. Okay, next!"

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Damian was utterly shocked when Bruce allowed him to get away with it so easily. He initially thought he would have been found out if he used the bathroom excuse since he went to the bathroom before they left. But somehow, deep inside he knew that Bruce was willing enough to let him go anyways because he was that desperate to see Rachel again after being separated for four years.

It was then he stopped at a nearby caravan where he saw a young girl sitting on top of the stairs, putting her ballet flats on. Damian remembered clearly that Haly's Circus only had one child performer and that was Rachel. She is famous amongst the circus community for being the youngest performer in history.

There was no doubt that that girl was Rachel. Besides the change in both hair and height length and that her body had become rather athletic thanks to her circus life, much to Damian's surprise, her eyes still had that same glint in them they did when she was younger.

His lips tugged into a smile as he walked over to her. Oh boy, she was going to be really happy once she sees him again.

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Rachel was downright nervous when Mr. Haly announced they had arrived in Gotham City. But she couldn't tell who was more nervous, her or her mother. Personally she thought they both were because it was the place where Mary had first met Bruce, Rachel's birthplace and Mary's second home.

As everyone in the troupe was preparing themselves for the night, Rachel was putting her costume on in the caravan. Mary and John, having prepared themselves in advance, were with Mr. Haly discussing tonight's schedule. They wanted the night to be perfect for them, Mr. Haly and the audience. With Rachel as a new addition to the Flying Graysons, everyone had high expectations for her.

Besides coming home for the first time in four years she was starting to feel the pressure of everybody's hopes for her, hence training non-stop for the last three days. She didn't want to fail them. If she did, then it will ruin the circus' reputation and everyone would look down at her as if she was the cause of the failure.

When she had put her tights on, Rachel opened one of the drawers and pulled out the necklace Mary gave her. Even if it was three days old she hadn't taken it off once. The only times she did was whenever she had a shower, which she did a while ago, and at the end of the day when she went to sleep as it was uncomfortable wearing such jewelry while sleeping.

Tonight was different though. Deep inside, Rachel felt that something was going to happen and whatever it was it was, it was going to be big and affect everyone greatly, her and her family especially.

After putting on her necklace and tucking it under her leotard, she picked up her ballet flats and went outside to place them on. Pushing the door open, a small breeze brushed past her as she sat down on the steps and started to put on her ballet flats.

Just as Rachel was finished and ready to head to the big top, someone came up from behind.

"It's been a long time, Rachel."

Said girl turned around and gasped, not believing at who she was seeing.

"D-Damian?" she whispered.

He nodded. "The one and only."

Fresh tears sprung freely from Rachel's eyes and without hesitation she instantly jumped into her brother's arms.

"I-I missed you… so much." She said between sobs.

"So did I baby bird, so did I." Damian muttered in her hair, taking in the sweet scent of peppermint shampoo.

Rachel smiled. It's been a long time since she last heard him or anyone in that matter used that nickname and it was nice to hear him say it again.

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Tim's eyes widened at what he saw. From personal experience, he never expected Damian to be a social person outside of his family but this… this took on a whole new term of awkwardness.

Then he remembered his Elementary School classmates having a debate that made some believe that Bruce Wayne's daughter was actually the younger sister of John and Mary Grayson. It was a long debate that went on for a while that ended up with no results or that the beliefs were just made up theories. And it was ironic because Tim believed that both girls were one in the same as it was impossible to have a mother named Mary or an older sister of the same name when both of them clearly looked alike.

He backed away when Damian and Rachel pulled apart and swore that the other shot him a look that looked like he was about to kill someone for eavesdropping. If that was the case then Tim wasted no time into scurrying away like a game of cat and mouse.

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Damian frowned when he pulled away from Rachel. He was desperate to hold onto her longer but he knew that it was almost time for the show to start and he didn't want to keep Bruce waiting any longer.

Rachel wiped her tears away. "If you're here then that means…"

"That father is here as well then yes." Damian said.

"I bet that mom will be so thrilled when she sees him again."

"Maybe, maybe not. We will see what happens at the end of the show."

Rachel pouted. "Aww…"

Damian chuckled and ruffled her hair affectionately. "You should be going."

"You too, don't want to keep dad waiting now do you?" She asked, lightly swatting his hand away.

"Don't remind me." He sighed. "It's been nice meeting you again."

"You too." Rachel then gave him a peck on the cheek. "See you after the show."

"Yeah." That said she ran for it towards the big top.

Once she vanished, Damian's mood changed as he recalled spotting someone eavesdropping on them and decided to head after that person to give him a piece of his mind. If any word of this got out to the public, then he will be in trouble.

It wasn't long until he found the person he was looking for at the popcorn stand. Just as the boy was about to hand the money to the man, Damian marched up to him and yanked him by the back of his shirt, dragging him into the men's toilets, which thankfully was vacant, before slamming him against the wall.

"How much did you see?!" He demanded, malice dripping from his tone of voice.

Tim yelped and covered his eyes with his hands. "I-I didn't see anything, I swear!"

"Do this again next time and I won't hesitate to kill you, got it?" Damian snarled.

"Y-yes sir."

The former snorted and let's go of Tim, allowing him to slump down onto the tiled floor.

"Look, I will pay for you if you shut up about this."

Tim blinked as he staggered to his feet. "You will?"

"Unless you don't want me to-"

"N-No please do it. I don't want to keep mom and dad waiting." He interjected.

"Fine just give me your money and I will give you the change."

Tim beamed. "Okay."

Damian face palmed. This boy was going to be a problem in the future.

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Bruce checked his watch as soon as everyone filed into the big top, where was Damian? Approximately 35 minutes have passed since he left to go to the bathroom and buy some popcorn on the way back and it was almost time for the show to begin.

Suddenly the lights turned off, forming into one big one that focused on the center of the stage. In the centre stood the circus' ringleader, Mr. Haly. He looked from left to right then centre before speaking out loud, "Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages. I, Mr. Jack Haly, welcome you to Haly's International Traveling Circus!"

He grinned when everyone in the audience clapped at the announcement.

"Sorry I'm late."

Bruce turned around when Damian sat down next to him with a box of popcorn in his hand.

"What took you so long?" Bruce asked.

"I had a squabble with someone. Don't worry, I can assure you nothing bad happened." He then handed a handful of popcorn. "Popcorn?"

"I hope you're right on that." Bruce muttered as he took some.

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"Rachel, it's almost time! Rachel?"

Mary sighed when she found her daughter sitting on the wooden crate, kicking her legs back and forth as she stared blankly at the floor. The older female knelt down in front of her daughter and shook her shoulder gently. "Draga mea, e aproape timpul." (Sweetie, it's almost time.)

She shook her head vigorously. "Mamă, mi-e frică. Mi-e frică că voi strica." (Mom, I'm scared. I'm scared that I will mess up.)

"Oh, Rachel. Listen to me, everything's going to be okay. All you have to do is follow us then it will be over just like that." Mary said, brushing a few black strands out of her eyes.

"But mom you don't understand. I have a feeling that something bad is gonna happen. I'm… I'm afraid that I will lose you!" She cried as tears streamed down her face.

"Rachel, it's okay. I promise you that nothing bad is going to happen to either of us. You're a strong girl, you can pull through this."

"… Okay."

Mary smiled. "That's my girl. Let's go."

Rachel nodded and took her mother's hand as she led her to the entrance of the main stage where

John was waiting for them the moment Mr. Haly walked up to them.

"Are you guys ready?" Mr. Haly asked.

John nodded. "Of course, tonight will be a night that we will never forget."

"I see." He looked at Rachel. "I understand that you have only been in the circus for four years but you have done well over the years. You have made me and everyone in the circus proud. And I'm sure your father would be proud as well."

"Yes sir." Rachel said.

Mr. Haly grinned. "It's Showtime!"

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Mr. Haly went back out to the main stage and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Everyone, may I have your attention please. It is time for tonight's main act – the Flying Graysons!"

They all looked upwards where the light shone on three people that stood on the right platform of the trapeze bars.

Rachel looked down at the audience and spotted Damian and Bruce amongst them. The sight of the people staring at her made her feel nauseous like the first time she had to perform in such a crowd.

Then the drumroll started and Rachel knew it was time, so she pushed the nausea aside and focused on the performance. As per usual John started the performance off by grabbing hold of the trapeze bar and swung off the platform towards the other bar, earning applauses from everyone when he flipped in the air and grabbed the other bar.

The feeling from earlier prior to the start of the performance nagged Rachel's stomach again. She just knew something was going to happen but she couldn't put her finger on it but it was somewhere between now and near the end of the performance.

And just as she thought, the second Mary lifted herself into the air the ropes began to snap. Rachel ran to the edge to try and call out to her mother but she couldn't bring herself to do it yet she was relieved when Mary flipped in the air and landed safely in John's arms.

Unfortunately it got worse.

The extra weight from Mary combined with John's own provided too much pressure for the ropes, causing them to snap.

As soon as she was about to shout at them to get on the other platform, the lights went off all of a sudden. Because it was too dark to see, Rachel didn't notice someone grab her from behind and cover her mouth and nose with a cloth.

She struggled with her captor, trying to break from his grasp. But the scent of the drugs that were dabbed into the cloth was overwhelming her senses. Her eyelids started to get heavy as it started to affect her.

The last thing Rachel heard before she passed out was Mary calling out to her.

And that was the final time she got to hear her mother's voice for the rest of her life.

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A loud scream and crash was what everyone heard before the lights turned back on.

There, in the middle of the stage, were two bodies lying side by side drenched in each other's own blood.

The silence was then interrupted by someone from the audience screaming followed by the rest of the audience which was soon turned into chaos.

Bruce immediately leapt from his seat with Damian following suite. While he checked on John and Mary, Damian headed up the ladder connected to the platform to check if his little sister was alright.

But by the time he reached the top he was too late.

Rachel was gone.

* * *

**Maki:** I apologise if this chapter, being the first and supposed to be prologue-esque type chapter, was seriously long. This chapter was meant to be a back story for the main storyline and I always tend to go into detail with these kind of chapters. Also I'm sorry again if the ending felt rushed, I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible since it was late and passed my bedtime when I completed it, which is normally 12:00am-12:30am.

Now as I mentioned in my warnings prior to the beginning of the chapter I have put in Age Alteration and Reverse!Batfamily, in which the terms mean that that I will be adding the entire Batfamily including Terry but unlike the original canon, Dick or in this case Rachel is the youngest and Terry is the oldest with the others scattered in between. But they're not the only ones who ages have been changed as I will explain here:

Bruce Wayne/Batman – 42 (32–36 in prologue)

Terry McGinnis/Darkwing – 23

Damian Wayne/Nightwing – 20 (10–14 in prologue)

Chase Cain (Male Cassandra Cain)/Black Bat – 18

Jason Todd/Red Hood – 17

Stephen Brown (Male Stephanie Brown)/Spoiler – 16

Tim Drake/Robin – 15 (9 in prologue)

Rachel Wayne (Female Dick Grayson)/Kestrel – 14 (4–8 in prologue)

Roy Harper/Red Arrow – 17

To anyone who is curious about Terry, he is the main protagonist in a Batman animated spin off show called Batman Beyond which takes place in a futuristic Gotham City where an elderly Bruce has retired from his duties as Batman. Later on in the show Terry finds out that he is cloned from Bruce, much like Superboy is to Superman, to continue the legacy as Batman. For some reason people had started bringing Terry in as a member of the Batfamily into a lot of Batfamily-related fanfics, which I find is not a bad idea so I decided to try it out myself. He also won't be cloned either like he was in canon just so you know.

Speaking of which, Roy will not, I repeat will not, be cloned in this fanfic for a good reason as the whole "mole" scenario won't happen. However if I do plan to continue with the "mole" scenario, I will work my way around it but I won't clone Roy. End of discussion.

Now as to why I de-aged Roy by one year and brought Rachel's age up by one year is because I want to make it a realistic pairing. I mean really, having a 13-year-old date a 15-year-old is okay as they're one year apart but having a 13-year-old date an 18-year-old is too much of an age gap seeing how a 13-year-old is still a minor whereas an 18-year-old is considered a legal adult in most countries. So by bringing Roy down and Rachel up a notch makes it a two year gap and that's okay since a lot of people date each other when there's a two year gap in between. Not only that but Roy is in a way Jason's best friend so it only makes sense to make them the same age.

Finally I made Bruce older in the fanfic because if you look it this way, Damian is 20 in 2010 and Bruce began his crime fighting after he saw his parents die before his eyes when he was 8. And seeing that Damian is born in 1990, it would've been difficult for him to be born since Bruce will only be 12 at the time if I kept him as 32 in the fanfic so I was forced to make Bruce ten years older than he is to make it realistic similar to what I did with Roy and Rachel's relationship. Which begs the question, should I make any of the Justice League members (excluding those who live longer than humans) older than they were in canon or just leave them the way they are?

Whew that was a lot to write. This was probably one of my longest end notes that I have ever written before, mainly just so I can clarify several things to the readers prior to ending the chapter all together. Well I bid you an adieu and see you all in the next chapter!


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